Editorials

We are well aware of the concerns being voiced by some of the East Roane County residents who live near the Tiger Haven big-cat sanctuary.
We are sympathetic to those who have expressed their fears.
However, this ongoing battle is one that appears to have no end in sight — at least not one that will satisfy those who have complained.
Tiger Haven has gone through inspection after inspection by multiple state and county officials and agencies. It is operating within the law, all have deemed.
Could the laws be changed?

By CHARLES C. HAYNES
It’s not every day that a school board votes unanimously to ignore legal advice, defy Supreme Court precedent and invite litigation.
But that’s exactly what happened late last month in Giles County, Va., when members of the board ordered school administrators to hang the Ten Commandments on the walls of the county’s five public schools.
Rehang, actually.

By GENE POLICINSKI
First Amendment Center
After 40 years on the job, the Minnesota News Council is closing down.
Council President Tony Carideo has said public complaints are down and so is corporate support for the independent news-review operation.
Carideo noted that e-mail and Twitter now provide virtually instantaneous ways for people to raise their concerns directly with journalists — presumably in contrast to the relatively lengthy notification-and-hearing process involved in council proceedings.

We were saddened by the death last month of Samuel F. Yette, a man whose influence still will be felt decades from now.
Yette, a Harriman man who was schooled at Rockwood’s famed Campbell High School for black children, left his mark as a journalist.
He covered many significant Civil Rights Era events for Newsweek magazine and also for LIFE magazine.
He lost his job at Newsweek after he wrote his plain-spoken, then-controversial book, “The Choice: Black Survival in the United States.”

By BILL WILLIAMS
The Paris Post-Intelligencer
Most people probably pay little attention to public notices in newspapers. But — like the fire department that’s out of mind until you need it — they fill an essential role in good government.

MANCHESTER TIMES
Founding father Thomas Jefferson said in 1787, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
In small towns across America, Mr. Jefferson’s words seem to ring true today. A study recently released by the National Newspaper Association shows that communities served by local newspapers continue to demonstrate heavy reliance upon their local papers for news and information.

After the inaugural celebration for Gov. Bill Haslam this weekend, the new governor turned and immediately slapped the face of the public who elected him.
He signed three executive orders that, according to a news release from his office, were intended to set out his commitment to transparency and openness in state government.
Some commitmment.
Included in those orders was language that eliminates the governor and his top aides from having to disclose how much they earn in outside income.

By KEN PAULSON
First Amendment Center
A Pennsylvania congressman is targeting bull’s-eyes.
In the wake of the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and the murder of federal Judge John Roll, Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pa., told The New York Times that he plans legislation that would ban language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening federal officials and members of Congress.

First of all, we’d like to express our thanks to the Rockwood Electric Utility crews who spent hours working in the cold Saturday.
A pole fire sent parts of Kingston and Midtown into a blackout on a very cold day. Even worse, many people were without any heat for more than five hours.
While we appreciate the work that was put in to get the power restored, we think the widespread outage on Saturday lends an opportunity for improvement.